Lost Daddy
by littlemissfg
Summary: A small brown trinket box fell from the attic hatch. The boy stopped in his tracks. "Dad? What's this box?" he asked. His dad murmured something as he clambered down the ladders from the attic. "I was looking for that." Their father grinned. He held the box in his hands. "It was my father's." The man replied. A long lost story was about to be told.


**Lost Daddy**

 **Chapter 1  
Redundant **

Sniggering, a young girl hid behind a purple curtain. It hung from the living room window. Surely her brother couldn't find her here. "I see your toes." Her twin brother shouted from the hall. She was sure he was cheating at hide and seek.  
"How can you see me from over there?" she called. He snorted. "You always hide there." He replied. Pulling the curtain away from her, she sighed. She thought she was a master at hiding.  
"Want to play tig?" her brother called. The girl shouted yes. The pair were bored in the house, since the rain had started on Tuesday and now it was Thursday, the following week. Driest months of the year, the forecast said different. The girl with her brown braids chased after her brother as he made his way up the stairs. Their father was clanking above in the attic. "Watch out, your father might drop something." Their mother called from the master bedroom. Their parents were spring cleaning the house and attic.  
A small brown trinket box fell from the attic hatch. The boy stopped in his tracks. "Dad? What's this box?" he asked. His sister was on his trail, but he was finished with tig.  
"Tig." She proclaimed while tapping his back. She huffed and puffed behind him. He continued to stare down at the box. She too followed his gaze to the box. Staring at it with curiosity, her mind began to imagine what the box could be holding. "Dad?" the boy called. His dad murmured something as he clambered down the ladders from the attic. "I was looking for that." Their father grinned. He held the box in his hands. "What is it?" the girl asked, while standing beside her father.  
"It was my father's." the man replied. He clicked the box open with his hands. The box harboured photos, sketches, notes and a small medal. "Grandpa's?" the twins asked excitedly. The man nodded while holding up the medal. "Would you like to know how Grandpa got this?" he asked as he twirled the medal around. The twins nodded. "Well, it was back in the 1990's and… well I'm going to have to tell you over some popcorn and a can of coke." The man grinned. His wife was leaning on one of the walls with her arms crossed. She rolled her eyes. Her husband will never change.

 _Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._ A yawn escaped from a young man's mouth. Stretching he flicked a piece of scrap paper into the metal waste basket. "I'm sure work will pick up." Said a greased mechanic. He rearranged his tool box for the fifth time. "It's been four hours and all we've had is a burst tire." The tired mechanic replied. He ran his dirty hands through his light brown hair. His goggles slid down to the bottom of his nose. "Don't worry, Hoagie." Grinned the mechanic. He moved away from the work bench towards a coffee machine that sat near an office. He grabbed a plastic cup and placed it underneath the nozzle that was joined to the coffee machine. Pushing a brown coloured button, the machine _splurt_ and _spat_ as the machine grounded down the beans. "Easy for you to say, Phil. Your dad owns this place." Hoagie replied. He spun around in a spinning wheeled office chair.  
The door of the office opened abruptly. A balding forty-something year old strolled out with a frown on his face. "Guys, I have some bad news." The man said. He scratched his balding head. The only hair that was left was above his ears.  
"What is it Bernie?" Hoagie gulped. He hadn't seen Bernie look so worried.  
"The garage is completely bankrupt; I'm going to have to shut up shop." Bernie said with a cracked voice. Hoagie's mouth went dry. Phil however dropped his cup of coffee.  
"How, dad? We just got a loan from the bank." He said while walking over to his upset father. He placed a hand on his father's shoulder.  
"The bank did a background check and noticed I went to prison when I was seventeen. They took back the loan. We're finished." He cried as he fell to his feet. Phil knelt down to the same height as his father. "We'll think of something, Dad. Hoagie I'm sorry man, we're going to have to let you go." Phil said.  
Hoagie nodded his head. He had no words for this upsetting moment. He lifted his toolbox and headed towards the exit. He was jobless and soon bills and rent will come out of his bank. What was he going to tell his wife?

Tapping on a kitchen counter, an inpatient wife waited for her apple pie to cook. Looking at her surroundings she spotted something in the corner of her eyes. Black and green, it made her stomach roll. Mould. Shaking her head, she sighed. Laughter erupted into the room.  
"Mama." Cried a voice. A young boy with tuffs of brown hair that matted to his head. He pushed his round spectacles to his blue eyes. "Yes, pumpkin?" The woman smiled. She held out her hands as the boy's two-and-a-half-year-old brother waddled over to her. She hugged him tightly.  
The five-year-old strolled over with his thumb in his mouth. "Where's daddy?" he mumbled. He sat beside his mother's feet. "He'll be home soon." The woman began when the door banged opened.  
"DADDY!" shouted the pair of infants. Their father greeted them with smiles. "My boys." He smiled. His overalls were baggy on his body as if they belonged to someone else. The man bundled up his sons. He hugged them tightly. "Betty." Smiled the man. He sniffed the air. "Apple?" he asked. His wife nodded. "My favourite." He grinned. Putting the children down, he pulled his wife into a kiss. The boys stuck their tongues out in disgust.

"How was your day?" Betty asked, as she placed a spoonful of mashed potato into the two-and-a-half-year-old's mouth. "Stressful." He replied truthfully. The five-year-old was playing with his light fur coloured teddy bear. The young man munched on his lovely prepared beef.  
"I've been let go." He said sadly. His wife stopped feeding the baby.  
"Oh honey." Her eyes weld with tears. She put her arms around her husband, still clutching the baby's spoon. "Don't worry, I'll find another job." He said positively. She cried into his strong shoulder.  
"But the bills and the kids." She whispered into his ear. He patted her back softly.  
"We'll make it work." He replied while kissing her forehead. He let go of his wife as she sat back down near the baby. The baby had gotten inpatient for his dinner and had begun frowning.  
Wiping his mouth, he looked down on his lap. His five-year-old son had placed his hand on his father's leg. "Don't worry daddy, something will turn up soon." The smart child smiled. Pulling his son up on his leg, he began to tickle him. "Who says I'm worried? Was it you Junior?" he said jokingly while tickling his underarms. "No." snorted the five-year-old. Hoagie grinned. He loved his family.

"Name?" asked a very sour-faced woman. She had triangle spectacles on the edge of her nose. She was typing on a keypad that was thick as a thirty-page book. "Hoagie Purvis Gilligan." Hoagie replied. The woman typed with the speed of a cheetah. She ticked off a checklist on a piece of paper that was beside her. "Date of birth and place of birth?" she asked. Her expression could cut glass. She looked incredibly bored and unhappy. "Twenty first of June, nineteen-sixty-five. The state hospital of Cleveland." He replied. He picked at a piece of skin on his thumb. This was time wasting, he could be out looking for job himself instead of using this stupid approach. Computer and the internet.  
"Well Mr Gilligan, I have some good and some bad news. The good news is that there are jobs out there that you can do. However, the bad news is that you will have to go back to college to apply to them." The woman said as she typed away on the large grey computer.  
Typing secretaries began to click simultaneously at the same time. Things were mounting up and his head was swirling.  
"I'll give it a shot." He replied. She smirked. "Great. Here's some advice for applying to college and other options; just in case you don't want to do this career path." She said as she pressed print on multiple pages. The printer screeched as it did as it was commanded. The unhappy lady handed Hoagie different pieces of paper. He nodded and stood up from the green chair. "Thanks." He said warmly. She pushed the spectacles to her eyes. She wafted Hoagie away and called for the next person to come to her desk. 

"What a waste of time, going to that careers adviser centre." Hoagie said out loud. He stared down at the sheets of paper. Jobs that fit his skills; a garbage disposal specialist, a street cleaner, a waiter. All of these jobs were not him.  
 _Are they honestly not needing mechanics anymore_? thought Hoagie. He kicked a squashed soda can away from him, resulting it going towards the nearest bin. "Maybe I could be a garbage man." He said out loud as he sat down on a blue bench. Placing his head into his hands, he stared down at his sneakers. _How had my life gone from good to bad_? he thought. Closing his eyes, he took in deep breaths. He had to get a job for the sake of his children and his wife.

 _Crunch._ Reopening his eyes, he looked down at his feet yet again. A yellow poster crumpled underneath his feet. Curiosity wafted into his brain. Bending down and lifting the poster, he pulled it open. "The army?" Hoagie said out loud. The poster had the words: US ARMY, printed on the front. A man with a cadet hat was standing, smartly dressed in uniform, beside a large boat vessel. On the vessel were different army planes. "Go back to college?" he said while staring directly at the planes. He would have to get a part time job to keep up with rent but the pay from the army was excellent. He knew deep down that this idea of his; whether it was smart or dumb, felt right as if it was fate. He would have to get his finger out and study hard, but he knew it would pay itself off in the end.

 _ **Well guys I'm back with a new story. I really wanted to do this story for a while, but commitments, writer's block and other personal disadvantages stopped me in my tracks. Anyway it is here and another chapter will go up, real soon.  
Littlemissfg**_


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